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divorce can be an emotionally draining experience, even in the best
of situations, it can also be a complicated legal matter that affects
both parties equally. No matter how long your marriage has lasted
or how few belongings you share together, it is also best to involve
an attorney in your divorce proceedings. With out legal representation
your rights could go unprotected and you could end up in financial
trouble or even lose custody of your children or possessions.
Once you have contacted an attorney for legal representation,
he or she will walk you through the most common steps of a divorce.
Depending on the circumstances revolving around your divorce,
this process can either be very simple and straight forward, or
very complicated and time consuming.
The simplest divorces involve parties that have
not been together very long, that do not have any children and
that have very few, if any, shared items to divide. More complicated
divorces come about from parties with a lot of mutually owned
property, young children, and non-agreement on the proceedings.
Non-agreement can include such things as differing opinions on
how to split up property to bigger concerns such one party not
wanting to agree to the divorce.
The first step in any divorce is filing a petition
to announce your intentions of divorce. Even if both parties want
a divorce, only one party will file this petition. In the petition,
you lawyer will list your reason for seeking divorce. He or she
will also advise you on which reason is more acceptable for your
situation.
After a petition has been filed, your lawyer may
suggest that you file a temporary order. A temporary order is
usually filed for concerns about custody and child support where
one party will need financial support or the guarantee of custody
until final judgment is made. These orders are awarded within
days of filing and stay in effect until the court hearing in your
case.
Once a person has filed a petition for divorce
or any temporary orders, these petitions are served to the other
party. Through this service, the other party is notified of all
petitions against him or her and is given the chance to respond
to the petitions. In mutually agreed upon divorces, the response
is as simple as a comment acknowledging the petition. In cases
of disagreement, the response may contain disputes covering anything
from the grounds of the divorce to disagreements on the division
of property, child custody or support.
If there is no disagreement once a petition has
been filed, then both parties will proceed without a trial to
the dissolution of their marriage. However, if there are disagreements,
further steps will need to be taken to sort them out.
Depending on the type of disagreement, the court
has many venues to use to help the parties reach agreement. In
the case of custody battles, the court may order both parties
to attend a mediation session where a third party can help them
settle their difference. In some cases, the court might also order
an evaluation with a social worker to ensure that any solution
is in the best interest of the children.
If the disagreement concerns monetary or property
division, the court may order a conference for both parties that
is overseen by a lawyer or a court employee. In this case the
third party will work to help individual compromise while still
holding onto their rights.
If the parties still cannot agree on the terms
or provisions of the divorce, a trial will be necessary. In a
divorce trial, both sides will explain and defend their positions
and then a judge will decide on all matters of grounds, property
division, child custody and support. Once the judge has made his
ruling an order of dissolution is granted.
An order of dissolution legally ends the marriage
and sets forth the legally binding terms for the end of the marriage.
The terms include the judgments ordered on property division and
child support.
Since each divorce comes with individual concerns
and many migrating circumstances, it is very important that you
choose a competent and experienced lawyer to represent you and
your interests.
© 2005 LawyerVista, a website where you can find a lawyer
in your city or state, including Hawaii divorce lawyers and Tennessee
divorce lawyers. You may reprint this article as long as you don’t
alter or edit it in any way and include the author’s credits
and this copyright notice including a working link to us.
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